We flew from London to Bilbao on March 2nd and travelled throughout our tour by train finishing in Amsterdam on May 14th. We spent seventy four days in Europe and travelled 4316 miles.
Our trip has taken us to:
Spain:
Bilbao, San Sebastián, Madrid, Segovia, Avila, Aranjuez, El Escorial, Cordoba, Seville, Jerez De La Frontera, Cadiz, Granada, Valencia, Barcelona, Arenys de Mar and Girona
France:
Tours, Paris, Versailles, Chantilly and Lille
Belgium:
Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp
The Netherlands:
The Hague, Utrecht, Lisse, Amsterdam and Aalsmeer
So what were the highlights?
This is a discussion we had over a beautiful lunch in Amsterdam as the end of our journey drew closer.
My Top Five would be:
1/ Valencia:
The vibe, the market, the park and the modern architecture.
I have published three previous posts on this beautiful city entitled “Valencia-Please can I Stay”, “Valencia just has it all!” and “Valencia Fallas Festival”.
At the start of the first post I wrote “Wow! Oh my goodness! This is it! We have been looking for a city that makes us want to return and actually try life as a local for three months and this could be it! I am so excited…………………”
This city for us really does have it all from the beautiful old town to the thriving colourful and appetising market
to the 7 km Jardines del Turia, the amazing beach, the architectural wonder that is The City of Arts and Sciences and the annual Fallas Festival.
2/ Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba:
I was over awed by its serenity, peace and acceptance and I seriously cannot even begin to describe its beauty. A beauty that is not only defined by its architecture but also by the unity of religion created within.
This picture shows how the two distinct types of architecture have been blended together.
In a world where so many countries have experienced or are experiencing religious warfare this cathedral bears witness to the fact that regardless of your religion (or in my case lack of religion) you can exist alongside each other in harmony.
As I wrote in my previous post entitled Religious Unity in Cordoba “Leave the audioguide alone and enter this sacred place with an open mind, let the atmosphere draw you in, let the sheer beauty of the architecture awake your senses and let the peace and tranquillity surround your soul. If you allow this Mosque-Cathedral to envelope you, believe me you will leave this place with a feeling of a greater sense of harmony and an aura of peace. “
3/ Keukenhof Flower Gardens in Lisse:
This was one of the top three places I wanted to visit whilst on our tour and it definitely did not disappoint. Just the sheer beauty within the natural surroundings is enough to take your breath away. But when you combine this with the sheer magnitude of the types of flowers, the imagination they use to create such variety and then the inspiration they also manage to instil in you before you leave is unbelievable.
I wrote a post about the gardens entitled “Keukenof – Beauty, Imagination, Inspiration ” in the hope that my words will always bring back my memories of this delightful oasis.
4/ Mirador de San Nicolas:
I hope I will never forget the moment I walked around the corner of the San Nicolas Church in Granada and saw this fantastic panorama spread out in front of me.
As I wrote in my post entitled Granada -A View to Remember, “I honestly could not believe my eyes. The whole of the Alhambra Palace was laid out before me with the beautiful snow capped mountains of the Sierra Nevada nestled behind. Suddenly everything I had read and seen the day before made sense. The Palace dominated the skyline, leaving everything below in its wake.
(The view of the Alhambra Palace is included in my previous post. Here I’ve included instead the sheer majesty of the mountains)
There are not many views in the world that you see and know are going to stay in your memory forever but this is one of them. It probably ranks in my top three!
5/ Plaza de Espana in Seville:
This was such an unexpected wow!
I wrote two posts on the city of Seville and this featured in the first of these.
“Like many I had seen pictures of the Plaza de Espana but nothing prepares you for the reality. As we rounded the corner I caught my breath as the magnificence of this Renaissance Revival plaza spread out in front of me. I am so pleased that we came here at the end of our day as there was no pressure on time and we could wander at will absorbing the atmosphere, taking a break whenever we wanted to and just being in the moment.”
I look back now on our tour and this definitely stands out as one of those unforeseen moments of splendour.
Europe has so much to offer and we definitely have plans to return to a few of the places we visited on this trip but the rest of the world awaits…………………………………………..
A Midlife Adventure 